Vikki Goodwin AI media incident — Sep 2026

Texas political campaigns are increasingly integrating artificial intelligence to generate imagery and video content for midterm election advertisements. These digital tools are being used to synthesize appearances of candidates in scenarios they did not participate in, often to characterize opponents' policy positions or personal views through AI-driven scripts and visuals.

What happened

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has actively utilized AI to create advertisements featuring his opponents, including state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, and state Rep. James Talarico. One advertisement depicted an AI version of Goodwin on a football field discussing tax policy, while another featured AI versions of Goodwin, Hinojosa, and Talarico at college football events discussing taxes and social issues. While some of these ads include small text disclaimers, others do not.

Similarly, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released a "King James" advertisement using AI to depict Talarico rewriting scripture and making controversial comments on gender and religion. This ad included a disclaimer acknowledging the use of AI. In other instances, campaigns have faced criticism for altered imagery; for example, Gov. Greg Abbott’s team faced backlash for posting a photo of Hinojosa speaking to a student where an American flag from the original video was replaced with a transgender pride flag.

These incidents occur in a regulatory environment where previous attempts to mandate disclosure for AI-generated political advertisements, such as House Bill 366, failed to pass during the 89th Legislative Session. Former House Speaker Dade Phelan, who introduced the failed legislation, highlighted the growing difficulty for voters to distinguish between real and fake media. Currently, there is no comprehensive state or federal law governing the use of AI in political advertising, leaving the practice largely unregulated as the 90th Legislative Session approaches.